CHAPTER NINE
Don walked into the house and surveyed the damage. Almost everything had been swept up and vacuumed away at some point when they were gone, and the only evidence that someone had shot up the house were the holes in the walls and ceiling, and the missing decorations that had been too damaged to save.
Alan walked in behind Don and ran his hands along some of the damaged walls. "This is going to take a lot of work to fix up," Alan said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah," Don agreed, standing in the middle of the living room and shoving his hands in his pockets to avoid touching each and every bullet hole. "Charlie and I will help."
"So will I," Lauren said, picking up the duffel bag Don had dropped by the door and heading for the stairs. "Either of you mind if I take a long shower?"
"Nope," Don said absentmindedly, slowly drifting toward the kitchen to check for damage there. He wanted to check every room for missing items and damage. Who knew if the FBI had returned everything they said they took?
The answering machine displayed 6 waiting messages, but Don didn't want to have to listen to them, so he ignored it and opened the fridge instead.
"We'll have to go grocery shopping," he informed his father, who was still in the living room cataloging their missing belongings.
"Among other things," Alan informed him. "Do you suppose insurance will cover this? There's a lot of things that will need to be replaced. All these picture frames…"
"I'll call them tomorrow," Don said. "Or maybe Charlie should call them. It's his house, his insurance." He wandered back to the living room and eyed the front window, which had been boarded up with a sheet of plywood. "I'll stop by the hardware store first thing tomorrow, I think. Get a new window. We should be able to replace that ourselves, or should we call someone? Are there any rules about Craftsmans and new windows? Or Craftsmans and bullet holes?"
Alan shrugged. "I don't know. Let's leave all this until tomorrow. It's overwhelming at the moment."
Don looked at his father with some worry. "Are you alright? You look tired…"
"Its been a long couple of days," Alan reminded him. "But I'm glad to be home. And I'm glad that everything has worked out."
Don nodded and turned the tv on, switching the channel to CNN. He muted the sound and wearily sank down in a chair.
"You would think we'd be well-rested after a few days of doing nothing," Alan said, sitting down as well.
"That's always more tiring than being busy for a few days non-stop," Don said. "For me anyway." He glanced at the clock that hung unscathed on the wall. 11pm.
"Do you suppose we'll ever see any of those people again?" Alan asked.
"I hope not," Don said. "No offense to them, of course. I think we'd only see them again if Charlie's in trouble, and I'd rather that didn't happen again."
Alan nodded, then stood. "I'm heading up to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and Charlie should be home too, so we'll have to have a long talk, the three of us. A serious talk."
Don nodded and was already dreading it.
The next morning Don wandered downstairs at 9 in the morning, and found Charlie and Anna sitting on the couch, quietly conversing in French. The TV was on again, muted and on a 24 hour news channel.
"Morning," Don said, hiding his surprise.
"Morning," Charlie and Anna said at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment before Charlie rolled his eyes and Anna laughed.
"Ok then," Don said, trudging into the kitchen to hunt for some coffee and breakfast. He was beginning to think he should have stopped by a convenience store the night before to at least get some breakfast foods.
He was pleasantly surprised to find coffee ready and take-out bagels on the counter.
"Help yourself!" Charlie called from the living room.
"Thanks," Don muttered a little more quietly to avoid waking anyone up who might still be sleeping. He had heard the shower on though, so he figured his father at least was already awake. Lauren was still blissfully asleep.
Don headed back to the living room with a mug of coffee and his bagel. He sat down across from Anna and Charlie.
"So, no news?" Don asked, nodding once toward the tv.
"Nope," Charlie said with a pleased smile. "Except the ridiculous campaigning. Hence the mute."
Don nodded and took a bite of his bagel. "When'd you get here?"
"Hour ago or so."
Don nodded. "Didn't hear you."
"We were quiet."
"How are things?"
"Fine."
"Dad should be down soon."
"Good, we need to talk."
"Yeah, we do," Don agreed. "You're helping me fix this, you know," he said, motioning toward the damaged walls.
Charlie made a face at that. "I figured I'd just call someone. The professionals should know about the restoration rules and all that. I don't really have the time."
"Make the time," Don said. "Dad won't be pleased if you ditch out on us."
"I didn't say I was ditching out," Charlie said, a defensive note creeping into his voice. "I'm just saying it might be better to call the professionals, that's all."
"Professionals to do what?" Alan asked as he came down the stairs. "Good morning, everyone."
"Morning," everyone murmured in reply.
"Professionals to fix the house," Charlie said after a few moments of silence.
Alan nodded and stood by the door to the kitchen for a moment. "That might be a good idea, for some of the bigger things," he said. "But for the small things, we should be able to do that ourselves. Call the insurance people first, though. See what they say."
Charlie shrugged and nodded, throwing a slightly victorious glare in Don's direction.
Don rolled his eyes at that. Alan had sided with him after all, it was nothing Charlie needed to feel good about.
Alan had gone into the kitchen to get breakfast, and came out a moment later with bagel and coffee in hand. "This is really a very good bakery," Alan commented. "This is the same place Michigan was getting us lunch from. Wonderful bread."
They were all silent for a few minutes, eyes watching the TV just for something to look at.
"You would think they'd run out of things to campaign about," Charlie muttered after a while. "It's not like any of them ever keep their promises. And really, what makes anyone think I care about who whatever celebrity is voting for?"
"Want to guess how many people are going to base their votes on that?" Don asked wryly.
"That would just be depressing," Charlie decided.
Alan reached for the remote and switched the television off. "Let's not put this off any longer," he decided. "Anna, would you mind excusing us? Don and Charlie and I have some things to discuss."
"I have some errands to run," Anna said agreeably. "I'll be back in a few hours." She picked up her purse and headed out the door.
Charlie crossed his arms and looked at Alan expectantly. Already looking defensive, Don thought.
"You were shot the last time you disappeared," Alan began.
Charlie leveled a deadly glare at Don, who chose that moment to inspect a scratch in the chair he was sitting in.
"That was a long time ago," Charlie said, still trying to make some eye-contact with Don, who was now looking up at the ceiling. "And I only disappeared one time."
"You were gone this time too," Alan said. "And we didn't know where you were."
"Sometimes I don't know where you are," Charlie countered, giving up on Don and instead staring moodily at the coffee table.
"That is a different situation," Alan said.
"How so?"
"It's not life-or-death, for one thing," Don said.
"I don't know that at the time," Charlie said with a shrug. "And really, neither was this."
Alan crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Charlie who squirmed in his seat a little before relenting. "Ok, fine. It's not the same thing. I don't know what either of you expect from me."
"How about just letting us know you're ok?" Don asked.
"And what if I'm not?"
"Then let us know that too," Alan said. "It's not too much to ask, Charlie, so don't try and argue that point. Anna is a good enough hacker to send an encrypted email to Don, or to bounce a phone signal through a million satellites to call me. And you're more than smart enough to figure out a way if Anna isn't around to do that."
Charlie nodded. "Fair enough. But can you both please be aware that you can't always be my first priority. Sometimes I need to do something else that's really important before I can call you and tell you where I am."
"That's fair," Alan agreed. "If we're talking about a day. Not if we're talking about eight months."
Charlie nodded and shrugged. "Alright."
"Good. Now, let's talk about the house," Alan said determinedly.
"Yeah, that's something I wanted to talk to you both about," Charlie said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Anna and I were thinking, or we've been talking…" He sighed and shrugged. "We're moving."
"Moving?" Don exclaimed. "Where?"
"Southern France," Charlie said.
"You're selling the house?" Alan asked.
"Well, no. I thought you or Don, or both of you, could just stay here and look after it," Charlie said. "I mean, I can sell it, if you don't want to do that, but… I just thought…" He shrugged again, eyes firmly on the coffee table. He looked up finally and at Don.
"Why are you moving to France?" Don demanded.
"I speak French, and so does Anna, and I've been offered a few jobs at universities, I just thought I'd be easier."
"Easier for what?" Don asked.
Charlie shrugged again. "Things around here haven't really been… I don't know… comfortable? And Anna was worried about you guys not liking her that much, so she wanted to get her own place, which I didn't want, I want her to stay with me. And then she was offered a job in Marseilles, and we thought…" He sighed. "I thought that would be ok for everyone."
"Well it's not," Don snapped. "Why didn't you just say so instead of deciding to move to Europe?"
"Because it's been three months, and we tried it out, and that was long enough, and anyways, I was getting really annoyed with the both of you."
"You were annoyed with us?" Don demanded incredulously. "You're the one who disappeared for eight months."
"Oh would you drop that already?" Charlie exclaimed. "I have explained what I can, and I've apologized about it, but you both keep insisting on bringing it up every damn five minutes! Let it go. It's like I'm not allowed to do anything around here, because I disappeared, blah blah blah. At least when I'm in France I can hang up the phone."
"Oh well that's just great then," Don muttered.
"Ok, both of you, stop for a moment," Alan said. "Charlie, have you and Anna finalized your decision to move to France, or is there still an opportunity to change your minds?"
"We haven't quite agreed to the job offers yet," Charlie admitted. "We were thinking of just going on vacation for a few months before settling somewhere, and we haven't looked at houses or anything yet."
"Good. I'm not going to say you can't go to France," Alan said, silencing Don's protest with a wave of his hand. "But I don't want the two of you to leave the country with the idea that we don't want you here."
"That's not what we thought," Charlie said. "We just thought a little more space between us…"
"Yeah, space, not an ocean," Don said.
"Don," Alan said. "Please."
"Fine," Don muttered. "Let him go to France."
Charlie threw his hands up exasperatingly. "What? You want me to stay here?"
"Yes," Don exclaimed. "Of course! What do you suppose?"
"Obviously I supposed you didn't," Charlie snapped in return. "It's not just my decision anyway."
"But you'll at least rethink it," Alan said. "Don and I have both realized we have been a bit harsh on you and Anna both. We'd like the chance to rectify that."
Charlie nodded. "Alright. We'll talk about it."
"Good," Alan said with a nod.
"So that's it?" Charlie asked.
"Did you have something else you wanted discussed?" Alan asked.
"No, not really. I think that about covers it."
"Good. Go call the insurance company so we can get the repairs started."
Charlie rolled his eyes at that. "Alright, alright. But I'm telling you we're hiring someone to do the repairs. I'm not doing it myself."
"We'll see about that," Don said with a slight grin as Charlie headed for the kitchen.
THE END.
So, that's it for this one... I don't know if there will be more from me, but thanks all for reading and for your great reviews!